The state forests that VDOF cares for are truly beautiful. The Conway Robinson is especially a great place to relax and escape the hustle and bustle of Northern Virginia. However, many people are unaware that the state forests are working forests, which means they are managed for more than just recreational purposes. Other purposes include water quality, research, wildlife biodiversity, and timber harvesting.
Sometimes to successfully reach these management goals trees must be cut down or thinned. That may shock many people but cutting or thinning trees can be very beneficial to the health of a forest and its inhabiting wildlife.
For example, in the general Northern Virginia area, oak regeneration is very poor. Two main reasons for this are 1) naturally many oaks are slow growers and 2) oak saplings are a favorite snack for the multitude of deer here. You can see how much of an impact deer have by comparing the amount of growth in and out of the deer exclosures in several places around the Conway.
Sometimes to successfully reach these management goals trees must be cut down or thinned. That may shock many people but cutting or thinning trees can be very beneficial to the health of a forest and its inhabiting wildlife.
For example, in the general Northern Virginia area, oak regeneration is very poor. Two main reasons for this are 1) naturally many oaks are slow growers and 2) oak saplings are a favorite snack for the multitude of deer here. You can see how much of an impact deer have by comparing the amount of growth in and out of the deer exclosures in several places around the Conway.
At the Conway we want to encourage oak regeneration as much as possible. Managed hunts are led once or twice a season to reduce the deer population and sometimes stands are thinned to allow more room for the young oak trees to grow. A thinning is basically what it sounds like: undesirable trees (in this case non-oaks) are removed to reduce the density within a stand. In the front-most stand young oak trees are being choked out by faster growing species such as cherry and maples, whose taller crowns block incoming sun rays.
Over the course of several days Joe and I walked through the stand and marked with blue tree paint which trees to keep and which would be removed. Then we got to work and started thinning the stand!
There is still quite a bit left to thin in the stand but once we are done the young oaks will have plenty of space and sunlight to grow and flourish!